A Complete Food
More people in the world drink milk from goats than from any other animal.
“Archaeological evidence suggests that the goat is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of the domesticated farm animals…” Observations on the Goat, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1970.
A refreshing and flavorful drink, calming to the digestion.
The cow milk industry is certainly more advanced relative to production, marketing, research and political influence than the goat milk industry.
Cows’ higher productivity enable their milk to be produced more economically than goat milk. The body of scientific research on goat milk is much less than with cow milk, but has begun to grow. This research is starting to explain the advantages of goat milk, and is providing a scientific basis that supports the many centuries of anecdotal evidence. Goat milk contains higher levels of many nutritionally active compounds such as nucleotides, free amino acids and polyamines. These same components are often present in goat milk at similar levels to human milk.
Goat Milk Is More Digestible
One glass will convince you, and here are some of the reasons emerging from recent dairy science research:
1. More Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs) than cow milk: Stomach digestive enzymes break down MCFAs more readily than Long Chain Fatty Acids (LCFAs), enabling more rapid digestion.
2. Softer Curd: Goat milk casein contains lower levels of alpha-S1 casein than the casein of cow milk.
- Alpha-S1 casein produces a firmer curd
- Goat milk forms a softer and more friable curd.
3. The reduced level of alpha-s1-casein may also assist with the digestion of beta-lactoglobulin in goat milk, resulting in less intact protein remaining in the intestine after ingestion.
